Suma no seki ariake no sora ni naku chidori katabuku tsuki wa nare mo kanashiki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

須磨の関有明の空に鳴く千鳥
かたぶく月は汝も悲しき

Roma-ji: Suma no seki ariake no sora ni naku chidori katabuku tsuki wa nare mo kanashiki
English Translation: At Suma Barrier,
crying in the sky of dawn
where the moon still lingers,
O plover, does the sinking moon
bring sorrow to you as well?
Meaning: Plover crying in the dawn sky at Suma Barrier, does the setting moon grieve you too?
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 425

Headnote: "Composed on plovers"
Composed on the topic of plovers. To a plover crying in the dawn sky at Suma Barrier, the poet calls out: does the setting moon grieve you too? He hears in the plover's ceaseless cries the same sorrow he feels at the moon sinking at daybreak, and sings of the plover as a friend who shares his heart.
The author, "Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Shunzei," was the son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada. At the command of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa he compiled this anthology, the Senzai Wakashū. He was the father of Fujiwara no Teika, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The five poems from 424 to 428 are poems on plovers. Plovers, crying along winter rivers and shores, were counted among the sights of winter.
The plovers of Suma Barrier are famed from Minamoto no Kanemasa's poem in the Kin'yō Wakashū, also in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, "Waking at the cries of plovers flying back and forth to Awaji Island, how many nights has the keeper of Suma Barrier lain awake?" This poem draws on that scene.

First line, "Suma no seki": the barrier at Suma in Settsu Province, a poetic place sung of with plovers since Kanemasa's poem.
Second line, "ariake no sora ni": "ariake" is the time when the moon remains in the sky at daybreak, the same hour as "ariake no tsuki" in 406 of this book.
Third line, "naku chidori": ending on a noun, the poem pauses here, calling out to the plover.
Fourth line, "katabuku tsuki wa": "katabuku" is to sink or lean, the moon going down in the western sky.
Fifth line, "nare mo kanashiki": "nare" means "you," the plover, and ending on the attributive "kanashiki" leaves the question hanging, "are you sad too?"
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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